The Pulp Odyssey!

(A 1KV Universe fan fiction production) 1937 Tarzan! The Shadow! Doc Savage! Three pulp titans find their worlds colliding for the first time as Nazis, cultists, and gangsters threaten to unleash eldritch horror from the Hyborian Age on the unsuspecting world. The Lord of the Jungle, the Dark Avenger, and the Man of Bronze must test the limits of their mighty abilities in this race against time to forestall Armageddon from beyond time and space and the barriers of Death itself!

[pulp2pixel]

Episode #004 - Welcome to Astro City #04

In this episode we will cover Issue #4 of the original six issue Astro City run, titles “Safeguards”.

Episode Promo: Unofficial 75 Greatest Marvels Countdown Podcast with Bureau 42 By W. Blaine Dowler and guests

This podcast series is an issue by issue rating and review show for the creator owned series Kurt Busiek’s Astro City. The series is the creation of writer Kurt Busiek and artists Brent Anderson on interior art with Alex Ross on character design and covers. The series examines the world of superheroes from different angles looking from a point of view of bystanders, supervillains, and the costs of being a superhero.

Your host Dr. G the Man of Nerdology and his Rogues Gallery of co-hosts will discuss plot, the art, the writing, and the impact of each issue. We will look at the influences of the series and on the series as it explores the superhero genre.

You can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes, where you can also leave a rating and review: Pulp 2 Pixel Podcasts

You can find episodes and articles about the podcast and leave comments or messages at:

http://pulp2pixel.blogspot.com

http://pulp2pixel.tumblr.com

http://www.facebook.com/pulp2pixelpodcasts

Contact us by email at:

[email protected]

Or follow us on Twitter @pulp2pixel

Check out this episode!

[pulp2pixel]

Episode #003 - Welcome to Astro City #03

In this episode we will cover Issue #3 of the original six issue Astro City run, titles “A Little Knowledge”.

Episode Promo: Shortbox Showcase -Relatively Geeky Podcast Network.

Episode Shout Outs: Kevin Smith and his Fat Man on Batman Podcast & The Red Panda Adventures part of the Decoder Ring Theatre Podcast.

This podcast series is an issue by issue rating and review show for the creator owned series Kurt Busiek’s Astro City. The series is the creation of writer Kurt Busiek and artists Brent Anderson on interior art with Alex Ross on character design and covers. The series examines the world of superheroes from different angles looking from a point of view of bystanders, supervillains, and the costs of being a superhero.

Your host Dr. G the Man of Nerdology and his Rogues Gallery of co-hosts will discuss plot, the art, the writing, and the impact of each issue. We will look at the influences of the series and on the series as it explores the superhero genre.

You can subscribe to our podcast through iTunes, where you can also leave a rating and review: Pulp 2 Pixel Podcasts

You can find episodes and articles about the podcast and leave comments or messages at:

http://pulp2pixel.blogspot.com

http://pulp2pixel.tumblr.com

http://www.facebook.com/pulp2pixelpodcasts

Contact us by email at:

[email protected]

Or follow us on Twitter @pulp2pixel

Check out this episode!

[pulp2pixel]

Episode #001 - Welcome to Astro City #1

This is the premier episode of Welcome to Astro City, a Pulp 2 Pixel Podcast. This podcast series is an issue by issue rating and review show for the creator owned series Kurt Busiek’s Astro City. The series is the creation of writer Kurt Busiek and artists Brent Anderson on interior art with Alex Ross on character design and covers. The series examines the world of superheroes from different angles looking from a point of view of bystanders, supervillains, and the costs of being a superhero.

Your host Dr. G the Man of Nerdology and his Rogues Gallery of co-hosts will discuss plot, the art, the writing, and the impact of each issue. We will look at the influences of the series and on the series as it explores the superhero genre.

You can find episodes and articles about the podcast and leave comments or messages at:

http://pulp2pixel.blogspot.com

http://pulp2pixel.tumblr.com

https://www.facebook.com/pulp2pixelpodcasts

and contact us by email at

[email protected]

Check out this episode!

[pulp2pixel]

Welcome to Astro City Promo #000

Welcome to Astro City

(A Pulp 2 Pixel Podcast)

Promotional ad for the podcast Welcome to Astro City, an issue by issue rating and review show for the creator owned series Kurt Busiek’s Astro City. The series is the creation of writer Kurt Busiek and artists Brent E Anderson on interior art with Alex Ross on character design and covers. The series examines the world of superheroes from different angles looking from a point of view of bystanders, supervillains, and the costs of being a superhero.

Your host Dr. G the Man of Nerdology and his Rogues Gallery of co-hosts will discuss plot, the art, the writing, and the impact of each issue. We will look at the influences of the series and on the series as it explores the superhero genre.

You can find episodes and articles about the podcast and leave comments or messages at:

http://pulp2pixel.blogspot.com

http://pulp2pixel.tumblr.com

https://www.facebook.com/pulp2pixelpodcasts

and contact us by email at

[email protected]

    Check out this episode!

[docshaner-deactivated20150730]

My #4faveMarvel, which doesn’t seem like it was even a thing people were actually doing. On twitter I mentioned that my Marvel picks feel more in the moment, because two of them are very recent incarnations of characters. My favorite Marvels shift more often. Thing and Beast are mainstays forever but the rest tend to move around. Loving Squirrel Girl and Captain America right now, so that’s where I went. If the list went longer it’d probably be a bunch of X-Men, Luke Cage, and Lockjaw.

[pulp2pixel]

This pic makes me want to see more Thing and Beast team ups. I feel this needs to be something we get more of. Ben Grimm’s Yancy St-isms and Hank McCoy’s dry academic wit would play well together. I could almost see them having a Ham and Monk relationship in many ways.

[twofistedpulp]

Doc Savage by Walter Baumhofer.

[pulp2pixel]

Welcome to Astro City Promo #000

Welcome to Astro City

(A Pulp 2 Pixel Podcast)

Promotional ad for the podcast Welcome to Astro City, an issue by issue rating and review show for the creator owned series Kurt Busiek’s Astro City. The series is the creation of writer Kurt Busiek and artists Brent E Anderson on interior art with Alex Ross on character design and covers. The series examines the world of superheroes from different angles looking from a point of view of bystanders, supervillains, and the costs of being a superhero.

Your host Dr. G the Man of Nerdology and his Rogues Gallery of co-hosts will discuss plot, the art, the writing, and the impact of each issue. We will look at the influences of the series and on the series as it explores the superhero genre.

You can find episodes and articles about the podcast and leave comments or messages at:

http://pulp2pixel.blogspot.com

http://pulp2pixel.tumblr.com

https://www.facebook.com/pulp2pixelpodcasts

and contact us by email at

[email protected]

    Check out this episode!

[pulp2pixel]

Secret Sagas of the Multiverse #6: Return of the World’s Finest that Never Was!

I find myself coming back to the topic of a pulp and golden age crossovers that never were. This piece of alternate reality takes a more cinematic approach and posits a double team up of good and evil. Boris Karloff as Shiwan Khan and Basil Rathbone as John Sunlight vie for possession of a lost copy of the Necronomicon.Only the heroic efforts of Doc Savage played by Larry “Buster” Crabbe and The Shadow played by Orson Wells can stop this dastardly plot before it spells doom for the whole world.

Buster Crabbe had already acquitted himself well as Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Tarzan. Another heroic strong man in the form of Doc Savage would not be a large stretch. Orson Wells made the character of the Shadow famous on the radio and with his leading man status could easily have made it come to life on the screen. While Boris Karloff is sadly whitewash casting of an Asian character it would have been appropriate for the the time, as evidenced by him playing Fu Manchu. Finally Basil Rathbone, though famous for playing the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes, was equally at home in villainous roles. I feel he would bring a suaveness to the movie to match that of Orson Wells.

[twofistedpulp]

The Shadow by Jim Steranko.

[pulp2pixel]

Nuff Said!

[thepulpodyssey]

From the far reaches of the Media Multiverse: The Street & Smith Universe by way of Fred Hembeck

[pulp2pixel]

Secret Sagas of the Multiverse #5: Alpha Flight vs. X-Men

I begin reading comics in 1980 but wouldn’t call myself a collector until 1986, Growing up during this time, I had a Classic X-Men run that covered the Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum run to the Claremont and John Byrne years ending a few issues after the “Dark Phoenix Saga”. I had also been collecting Uncanny X-Men run that was mainly Claremont and Marc Silvestri. With Claremont on words these three artists encompassed my personal X-Men continuity.

John Byrne’s run with the X-Men is my favorite part of that personal continuity by far. His pencils with the heavy brush of Terry Austin gave a weight to all the characters much like Neal Adams work. Byrne’s Wolverine is one of my favorite and I always felt truest visual expressions of the character. Wolverine is also the genesis of my love of all things Canadian. It is then little wonder Alpha Flight is my second favorite misfit team of Marvel Superheroes after the X-Men.

Though Guardian would first appear under the name Vindicator in Uncanny X-Men #109 in February of 1978, the actual Alpha Flight time would not appear until April of 1979 in Uncanny X-Men #120-121. I have a nod to the first battle in the middle digital art piece above. They would appear again in issues #139 and #140 in November and December of 1980 this times as allies to Wolverine and Nightcrawler as they hunt the Wendigo. In August of 1983 Alpha Flight would get their own series written and drawn by John Byrne. 

Alpha Flight could be described as the team that is trying it’s best to be the Avengers but keeps ending up being the Doom Patrol. One of the themes that reoccurs the most in the first 28 issue John Byrne run is that the members of Alpha Flight are the source of most of their problems. By issue #2 teammates are murderously turning on each other and that trend of internal fracturing continues throughout the run. Yet with all the internal strife and the barely a team aspect of this superteam, I still love these characters. Much of that love I am sure is coming from the beautifully rendered art of John Byrne through this era of the series. Also the occasional Wolverine cameo doesn’t hurt either. 

[thepulpodyssey]

From the blogs attached to my future podcast the Pulp 2 Pixel Podcasts.

[pulp2pixel]

Secret Sagas of the Multiverse #3: Doc Savage vs The Shadow

With the looming Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice movie on it’s way to theaters in the next year, I thought I would take a Pulp 2 Pixel look at the original Worlds Finest that never was: Doc Savage and the Shadow.

Both Doc Savage and The Shadow are born of the era of pulp literature in America. Named for the cheap wood pulp paper they were printed on, this genre fiction medium would rise in the 1930′s and have influences on popular media and geek culture to this day. These stories of adventure and mystery were escapism for an American culture reeling in the wake of the Great Depression. The larger than life heroes of the Shadow and Doc Savage were no exception, dealing with the problems of crime and mad science and always winning through ingenuity and righteousness. These books were the cop shows and actions films of the times.

Both characters are also clear inspirations of Superman and Batman. Secret Identities, hidden lairs, arctic fortresses, creature of the night, and man of tomorrow work equally well for the pulp era Man of Bronze and Dark Avenger as they do for the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight. Though Doc and the Shadow often deal with their foes far more permanently than Superman and Batman. 

Here I have put together some pieces using the ComicBook! app for the iPad and the Champions Online character design software of the two pulp heroes in question.

[thepulpodyssey]

From my podcast's art blog. I am looking to build reader ship so if you like this follow my Pulp 2 Pixel Podcast Tumblr.

[gameraboy]

Buster Crabbe, the original Buck Rogers from the 1939 serial, had a guest role in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode “Planet of the Slave Girls”.

[pulp2pixel]

Let us also not forget that Buster Crabbe’s character’s name was Gordon in this episode. A clear nod to Crabbe’s other famous science fiction comic strip movie role, that of Flash Gordon. In fact from 1933 to 1940, he was Tarzan, Buck Rogers, and Flash Gordon. He played three of the big proto-superheroes of pulp age of early 20th century fiction. Oh and he was in the 1928 Olympics. Oh for a world were he played Doc Savage in the 40′s.

[thepulpodyssey]

[fireandwaterpodcast]

Bob Haney Showcase III/Geek Talk - Episode 124

On the latest FIRE & WATER PODCAST Shag and Rob start the show discussing a host of smaller topics, like the Batman v Superman trailer, Convergence, and the Suicide Squad movie. Next is another Bob Haney Showcase: Shag profiles “Hero is A Dirty Name” by Haney, Dick Dillin, and Tex Blaisdell from WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #231, and then Rob tackles “The Disco of Death” by Haney and Jim Aparo from BRAVE AND THE BOLD #151! It’s more Zany Haney! Don’t forget kids, use the hashtag #ZanyHaney online for this episode!

Here are some pages from WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #231!

Here are some pages from BRAVE AND THE BOLD #151!

Be sure to check out THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST on iTunes!

Fan the Flame and Ride the Wave!

[wilburwhateley]

If you’re not already familiar with it, Lovecraftian Science is one of the most consistently interesting–and entertaining–Mythos-centered blogs/sites out there. Last week, they presented an article entitled, The Dunwich Horror and Understanding the Nature of Yog-Sothoth. (x) Today’s extension of that piece explores the relationship between Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath (Yog and Shubby…power couple).  You can access it here. 

[gameraboy]

Captain America (1944)

[thepulpodyssey]

Cap's first movie moments. The lack of the shield is a huge miss in this version.

[wilburwhateley]

Cthulhu : Long Reach of Evil by ESharam (Eddie Sharam); cover art for Age of Cthulhu 5: The Long Reach of Evil